Chili Verde

Tonight, my friends and I had a chili cook-off, because chili is delicious and we like to cook. Alyssa made traditional chili, Laura made white chili, and I invented green chili! I wasn't sure what I was doing, because I've never made chili before, so I bought some things that sounded good and put them together.

Chili Verde

1 can lima beans
1lb ground turkey
5 tomatillos
2 jalapenos
1 anaheim pepper
1 green bell pepper
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
2tsp fresh cilantro
1 cup chicken broth, thickened with flour
salt & pepper

Brown & drain the meat, chop the veg, toss everything in a crock pot!

I was hoping for more of a cilantro-lime flavor, but they weren't as strong as I was looking for. You could add more of those to bring out the flavors, or more hot peppers for more heat.

Happy Halloween

My First Apartment

This is where I live now! It's all clean and pretty cause I haven't been here that long, but maybe I'll keep it that way for a while.

All the fun I've had in my days off

Friday was a wonderful magical day. I went to the Gurnee Farmer's Market and bought yarn & tasty tasty bread, rode some rollie coasters with a friend, stopped at a garage sale and got the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book <3, finished my online class, then drove up to the Mars Cheese Castle to switch cars with my sister, then listened to a mixed cd that was my own personal radio station. All in all a magical day.

Today I went to Chicago with my friend Chris. We rode the Metra into the city, then we walked to Millenium Park and Navy Pier and the Magnificent Mile. I found $40 in the bathroom (I still feel bad for whoever dropped it) and had a great time all around. I plan on going back with Brian when he comes down to visit because he would love it.

Six Flags Day!

I had a really good day today. The morning started out kind of blah, because we didn't have picnics till 1:00pm, so from 8:30 on we had about 20 people trying really hard to keep busy. I ended up at the gate taking tickets, which is fun because I get to be friendly to guests all day, and I really do feel like I was above and beyond with friendliness today. I got a free lunch on my break, because my friend Matt in Security invited me to their cookout. The food was sooooooooooo good and soooooo much better than the 4-day-old PBJ I was planning on eating for lunch. Matt and I had a nice chat about Germantown and what I want to do with my life. Everyone I talk to at work seems to want to know what I want to do with my life, I should start making up crazy things. I was back at the gate for another hour or two, and then Cheryl had me go home so that I can stay later tomorrow. Dollars to donuts I'm going to get sent home early tomorrow when I hit 50 hours, but hey, I'll live. On the drive home, I saw a stretch limo that was a pickup truck. It blew my mind.

While waiting for my chocolate-covered strawberries to harden...

I am in a happy place. My boss took me aside to talk to me today, and I was all prepared to get yelled at and cry, but no! He told me I was doing a good job!

I am enjoying a mix CD from my darling seester. I would kind of rather sit and listen to the tunes than watch a show.

For the second year in a row, I'm not doing celebratory things for 4th of July, partly because I have a schoolgirl crush on my hometown's festivities. Last year I didn't want to try some other town's party cause it just wouldn't be the same. This year, I just don't really feel like it, I don't feel like I'm missing out or anything.

Things I Didn't Know I Knew

I went out to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes tonight. It's endless salad, soup, and other tasty things. At first I wasn't thrilled to pay ten dollars for a salad, but then I was thinking that it was reasonable. I don't eat salad or soup very often, so it's more cost effective for me to go out for it than to buy it with normal grocieries. Also, food cost. The actual food I consumed may have only cost three or four dollars, but they have to pay utilities, their staff, etc. So I guess I did learn something in school.

I have decided to buy the dinosaur belt from Hot Topic, but now the mall is closed so I'll have to do it another day. I'm hoping I brought my dinosaur shirt with me, but I don't think I did. That would have made a fun rave outfit.

Sadly, the shins still hurt from yesterday. Hope that goes away.

Pros & Cons

We'll start with cons:
Work was a Murphy's Law day - everything that could go wrong, did
Work started at 6am today and lasted till 5pm with only a 15 minute break
Work will be uber lame tomorrow
I will get 6 hours of sleep at best tonight (actually that's not as bad as I thought)
This bra does not go with this dress
This cafe is in Milwaukee and I am usually not

And now for the pros:
Overtime, chaCHING!
I actually kinda facilitated almost all of a Special Event
The weather was unbelievably lovely and I got to enjoy it
Being at work early meant a fantabulous parking spot
I am at an amazing cafe in Milwaukee
I am mere moments away from being with my brother! And seeing her new apt!
I am mere hours away from being at Summerfest to see Barenaked Ladies!!!!!!!!
I am mere weeks away from Brian!
I had a friendly conversation with the guy that sold me my car charger for my phone

Stop being counterproductive, yo!

So my main issue this summer is that I feel a bit lonely and wish I had people to hang out with. However, instead of doing something about it, I spend my time on my laptop with headphones in or alone in my room. The goal is to actually talk to people, and maybe not be so lame and lonely.

Also, food: I has it.
I'm still getting used to this dining-hall-free lifestyle, and I feel like I'm spending too much money on grocieries. It's entirely possible that I am, but it's probably more likely that I'm just not used to the sheer volume of food I actually consume. A lot of it is also that I feel the need to have back-up food, and to have lots of options. So for the next undetermined amount of time, I am going to not buy grocieries until I actually run out of food. I think this is going to be hard for me, especially when I run out of peanut butter & jelly (which i take to work for lunch every day). I think I can last quite a while, but it will be very, very hard.

Is it break yet?

Residents are LOUD.

APO Activation went swimmingly. It set a good standard for us to follow or raise for future ceremonies. We definitely need to get 3 or more rooms next time - 12 people in 2 rooms left a lot of us on the floor.

I just got back from a presentation called Ultimate Money Skills. It felt rushed - she had a lot of good information, but any part of it could have been focused on longer to give better information.

I'm a bad blogger

Really. I can't think of anything to write. Here goes nothing....


I'm waiting for Chrismas to come and go before I work on any big new exciting things. I asked Santa for lots of needles and notions, so I'm dragging my feet to see if I get those or not. Also, I don't want to buy lots of yarn when I could be buying presents for my loved ones. Not to mention I have about a month of down time between semesters to knit or crochet all the livelong day.

Mostly I've been cranking out items for charity - squares for a blanket (I can't remember if it's Project Linus or Afghans for Afghans) that my stitch'n'bitch is making, and crocheted hats that my fraternity sells to raise money for Relay 4 Life.

I also managed to make a cowl out of my bamboo yarn. It's super duper soft and it keeps my face and neck warm, and that means something in Wisconsin.

Duty Pants

A quiet weekend is a good weekend for the RA on duty, but that also means it's a boring weekend. I did a lot today, made a bulletin board, ordered my mom's birthday present, even did some homework. And then I ran out of things I needed to do and got bored. So I end up watching movie after movie on tv.

I'm in knitting limbo right now. I can't really afford the yarn (and needles) for the projects I'd like to be working on, so I'm using up what I've got on things I'm not really interested in. And if I'm not really interested in a project, I don't want to work on it. So yeah, knitting limbo. But I have a foam head to put my hats on, so hooray!

Ahoy!

Naughty me has been too busy with other things to remember to blog, but as it is Friday and I have no classes I'll bring this up to speed.

I had a cold and I kicked it's ass, but now I need to buy more tea.

It really, really sucks to go from working full time for lots of dollars to working part time for not as many dollars.

I am less than thrilled with my first brow waxing experience.

I'm feeling guilty about not doing my homework, even though it's all due Tuesday and it's only Friday.

I'm going to make a panini for lunch.

Last Day of Freedom

Tomorrow evening is the start of RA training, which means University Housing wakes me up in the morning and tucks me in at night. So today is officially a day of televee and yarn. Not really all that different than most of my free time this summer, but today it's OFFICIAL! Other RAs will be moving into my building today, so maybe they'll stop by and say hi.

I'm pretty excited about my new yarn storage. Formerly an over-the-door shoe holder of my sister's, now a lovely display of my yarn. It's presented a few difficulties - the metal hooks didn't fit over the door so I used Command hooks, then I had to adjust those when the whole thing fell, and then I cut the peephole in the wrong place. All in all, I'm satisfied with the result.

Welcome to the Doll House

I had a fabulous, fabulous, fabulous weekend with my sister in Stevens Point. I helped her paint, move in to, and decorate her new apartment. First of all, without anything in it the apartment is fabulous. French doors! A 3 season porch! A really nice shower! Cute windows that are only a foot off the floor! Locationwise it's superb for her - she's two blocks from her job. We painted accent walls in three of her rooms. The first room you walk into is connected to the living room by French doors, so the blue accent wall in the first room and the green wall in the living room really make them feel like separate spaces instead of one big room. The teal wall in her bedroom is almost like a headboard for her bed. We had quite an adventure bringing her stuff up from the storage facility. The couch and loveseat were not that heavy as far as couches go, but to get them in the door we had to take off the doorknob! The bureau of doom was heavy as hell and a pain in the ass. Evil, evil bureau. We got all her stuff in and then went shopping. I spotted the perfect rugs, and they turned out to be on sale! I am wonderful! I then saw a display of 4' palms for $15 and got one for her housewarming gift to put in the sunroom/patio. We had some dinner (yum yum steak!) and went back to set things up. We got the big furniture items put together and in place and the boxes of stuff in the right rooms, although we didn't really start unpacking them. This weekend was exactly the break I needed. I am in love with her apartment and I was so happy to see her again after her long long summer away. I can't wait till I have a chance to visit her again!

Blargh

I've been having a miserable week. Work sucks, people suck, life sucks. The front wheel of my bike was bent completely out of shape, presumably by drunken hooligans. My one free afternoon was accidentally wasted. APO books are a complete mess. Among other things, of course.

Trying to be positive, this is my last week of work, and I get to see my sister on Saturday.

Movin' on up

I'm mostly done moving to the new room. My legs are sore as all getout from walking up and down the stairs. Tonight I'm working on putting things away, and then tomorrow I'll finish cleaning out the old room and I'll be done!

The pirate hat has been a headache. I had to restart because I twisted the stiches, and that frustrated me so I put it away and then I've been busy with moving.

Sock it to me!

I really want to try knitting some socks. However, I have no sock yarn. This could be a good thing: I can make one 'practice pair' of socks with slightly-too-large yarn and get a feel for how they are shaped. Then, when I have the munnies, I can buy sock yarn and go nuts!

I'm super jealous because the hall directors are having a potluck in the kitchen below me. It smells really good. Maybe they'll offer me their leftovers.

There are some flowers in a little vase at the front desk, and I'm totally loving the green marigolds!

Money talks. Mine says "Goodbye".

After reviewing the sorry state of my finances, I've put myself on a budget. Three days later and I'm ordering yarn online. Clearly I need to practice this a little more. I decided that necessary things like groceries and toiletries and cell phone bills and the like are exempt from the budget, but things like yarn and going out to eat are definitely budgeted items. So with the meager $15 purchase I made, I've blown this week's budget and half of next weeks. Hopefully in the coming weeks it will get easier, as I will be busy with RA training and I will have my cafeteria meal plan back.

YARN BALL WINDER!!!

After a very long weekend, my yarn ball winder is here! I'm as happy as a clam.














No more loose skeins!